Kasane, Botswana: After crossing the border from Namibia, we set up camp in Kasane on the edge of Chobe National Park. We drove through the park two days and took a boat tour another, which was the perfect combination of ways to see the most wildlife in this spectacular park.
What makes Chobe stunning is its water, rich riverbanks and marshes. There was no shortage of elephants, giraffe, hippos, warthogs, crocodiles, buffalo, lizards and monkeys to see.
A few of our favorite moments…
Giraffes ‘tenting’ their legs since they are too tall to reach the grass standing
Warthogs kneeling down to eat
Hippos popping up and down with their big eyeballs to see what we were all about, and then yawning with disinterest when they realized we were just humans
Teenage elephants playing, splashing and spraying each other in the river
Tagged: boat tour, Botswana, buffalo, Chobe, elephants, giraffe, hippos, Kasane, kneeling, playing, warthogs
Etosha National Park, Namibia: Within 2 km of entering, we spotted a dozen zebras grazing in the grass and we were hooked on Etosha. We were immediately taken with the park’s beauty and the possibility of seeing Africa’s wildlife just feet from our camper truck.
That first day, we drove around for a few hours and saw hundreds more zebras, springbok, wildebeast and some oryx. After being in the hot sun all day and still feeling crappy from the malaria meds we’re taking, we were ready to head to camp. But we decided on one more turn, and just around the corner were 10 giraffes in the bush. We sat there in our car, cameras and binoculars in hand, watching them nibble thorn bushes and bat their long eyelashes. It was exciting to see these gentle & graceful animals so early in our visit…and so close!!
We found our campsite and headed to the watering hole. We sat there for a bit and said This isn’t going to happen. There’s no way animals come here while dozens of campers sit around expecting their arrival. But then, a lone rhinoceros quietly entered stage right. He approached the watering hole slowly while his mate and their baby sauntered over after. We gawked for an hour until they left as quietly as they appeared.
And so was our first day in Etosha – zebras, giraffe and some rhinos. We could barely fall asleep we were so excited.
Tagged: Etosha, Etosha National Park, giraffe, Namibia, Park, rhinoceros, zebras
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